Integrated Framework for Fast Prototyping and Testing of Autonomous Systems

Abstract

Validating the behavior of a complex system is a fundamental step in the development process to avoid costly damages and dangerous circumstances. Such a phase requires a realistic simulation of the system and the reproduction of the full operative scenario, including the environment with all the possible events and situations in which the system could get into. Although several tools exist to design, simulate and validate specific functions, checking the overall system behavior in an operative scenario usually requires the development of custom simulation frameworks. These are often tailored to the specific system under study, with the consequence that they are either incomplete or not fully reusable for other projects. This paper presents a modular hardware-in-the-loop development simulation framework that allows realistic simulation, supporting multi-vehicle scenario and comprehending tools for reproducing realistic testing environments with advanced sensors. A case of study is presented to show the employment of the proposed framework for testing the behavior of unmanned vehicles, focusing on the timing properties of the system. Category (2).